Purpose In Preseason
Every sport has a designated season, but who says you can’t start workouts before that start date? As winter sports are coming to an end, spring sports are in full swing. Hard work is needed to be successful at anything, and that includes sports and the fundamentals within. Many sports at James Buchanan provide preseason activities for student athletes. At this moment, preseason activities for spring sports are in full swing. Boys’ and Girls’ Track, Softball, Boys’ Tennis, and Baseball are all spending time honing their skills.
“For preseason tennis, we go to the Mercersburg Academy, where they have indoor courts,” said Nick Alfree (12). “Depending on their availability, we play competitively, doing matches and individual drills so we have a head start.”
Many teams have optional practices like this for students, which allows them to better prepare themselves for their upcoming season.
“I enjoy this a lot because since freshman year, I basically started from nothing to now having a good handle on the fundamentals,” said Alfree.
Athletes use preseason activities to further their skills and keep themselves in shape for the season ahead.
“We do more weight training instead of skills, said Coach Breanna Grove (Faculty). “Skills are more during the season, off season is more general training or general fitness.”
Off-season training allows for students to make decisions on what they need to work towards and what will make them successful in the future.
“Typically the students who attend our preseason workouts are the ones who are more committed to the team, so they work harder,” says Grove.
Attendance to these activities may affect how a coach views athlete commitment and determination for that sport. These activities can show the character of an athlete and what their position could be on the team.
Sports may be a very important aspect of a student’s life; it is their time to escape from the hustle and bustle of school work. A preseason activity allows students to practice their sport before the season officially starts. These activities are viewed by many as a way to be prepared to work hard for their best season yet.
Something New for JB: Clash of Classes
The Spirit Stick is presented by Homecoming King Nick Alfree (12) and Homecoming Queen Ella Heckman (12) to Mr. Dickey (Faculty) to begin the festivities of Clash of Classes.
Festival Of Frights
Dancing Through the Decades
President of Student Council, Sarah Kimmel (12) paints a sign for spirit week.
Homecoming has been a tradition at James Buchanan High School for many years. For alumni, it’s a time to reminisce. The student body sees it as a time for dancing and pep rallies; however, for a small group of students it’s the busiest time of the year. The Student Council takes on a hefty workload behind the scenes to make sure this grand event runs smoothly.
“We had a work day right after school ended last year to plan the dance,” said Bella Shupp (11), “We laid out all the details.”
This year, Homecoming is much earlier than previous years. This put extra pressure on Student Council members to have everything ready on time. Students usually come to the dance and see the decorations, but don’t realize how much work and planning it requires. They had to book the DJ, make decorations, design t-shirts, and plan the pep rally.
“We put up flyers and made a bulletin board to help spread the word to get participation,” said Timothy Helman (10).
The theme is “Dancing Through the Decades.” To promote the theme, the bulletin board was decorated with records and retro fonts. For Spirit Week, each day was a different decade starting with the 50s and ending with the 90s.
“We chose this theme because it is easy for people to participate,” said Helman.
Many people within the school own Converses, scrunchies, and many other things that were popular fashion trends in past decades. This makes it easy to show school spirit and participate throughout the week. The Student Council also wanted to boost school spirit even more; they plan to do this through the pep rally with fun games and songs.
“The Homecoming candidates will be singing karaoke,” said Shupp, they will also be doing a fashion show with toilet paper.”
The Homecoming King candidates this year are: Nick Alfree (12), Brady Bigler (12), Dean King (12), Grant Souder (12), and Jacob Troupe (12). The Homecoming Queen candidates are: Kaitlyn Ebersole (12), Lily Faust (12), Ella Heckman (12), Reilly Heinbaugh (12) and Hannah Kimmel (12).
“All the seniors nominated candidates,” said Shupp. “Then the whole school is allowed to vote for the final King and Queen.”
Typically the football game is on a Friday night and the dance takes place the next day on a Saturday night, but this year the game and dance are all in the same day. Saturday at 1 PM the game starts. At halftime the King and Queen will be announced, then at 7 PM the dance begins.
“I just hope that everyone has fun at Homecoming. It’s a time to relax and not worry about school,” said Shupp.
At the end of last school year, members of Student Council congregated together to plan out next year’s Homecoming. Since then, Student Council has been implementing their ideas that were written down on paper into reality.
Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, I’d Like To Go To Prom With You
What do marriages and proms have in common? Proposals! Or rather, “promposals” for high school juniors and seniors.
Couples and friends use promposals to ask each other to prom. If you don’t have your prom date yet, here are a few tips from students that have already “promposed” to their dates.
“To plan my promposal, I just sort of talked to my friends,” said Dylan Poffenberger (11). “I asked them what they thought I should do.”
It doesn’t have to be just up to you. Use other friends as a resource to help come up with ideas. When brainstorming a way to ask his date to prom, Poffenberger and his friends came up with a promposal using the song “Please, Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes.
“I used a satchel,” Poffenberger said, acting as the postman who brought a letter that asked his date to prom. “I had to borrow it from one of my friends.”
In addition to asking friends for ideas, it pays to ask friends to help with the promposal itself. Poffenberger borrowed a mail satchel from a friend, and Jackie Wagaman (12) got some help from the clarinet section when she asked Michael Newman (12) to prom.
“Michael hinted that we should go to prom together, but the elephant in the room was the promposal,” said Wagaman. “So, being the non-traditional lady that I am, I promposed to him, because I’m a giving person and I like planning things like that for my friends.”
Wagaman gifted Newman a bag of coffee in the promposal, as she knew that Newman liked to drink coffee. Poffenberger knew that his date, Allison Collings (12), also liked cuties oranges, so he got her a bag to go along with his promposal.
“Make sure that [your promposal] is cute and the person that you’re asking will like it,” Poffenberger said.
Making sure that your date will like their promposal is one of the most important parts, as well as making sure that it’s sincere. Poffenberger also advised having the promposal be something that’s special to the person that you’re asking. The promposal doesn’t have to be one that’s in the middle of the cafeteria during lunch, with balloons and posters. It can be simple and straightforward, as simple as just writing “prom?” on a cup of coffee.
“Sometimes, less is best,” Wagaman said. “Focus on the moment and the person.”
Wagaman also said that by making the moment special and memorable for your date, it will make it memorable for you in turn.
“I would say just make sure you think about it, but don’t think about it too much,” said Poffenberger.
The basic tips of planning a promposal? Brainstorm with your friends; put your heads together because you’ll be bound to get an idea that works. Make sure that it’s special and memorable for the person you want to ask, and then it’ll be special for you as well. Prompose to them in a way that they’ll appreciate. You don’t want to embarrass them by having a large, public promposal planned if they’d rather have something small and quiet. Finally, don’t stress if it doesn’t turn out perfect; it’s the little quirks and flaws that make moments memorable.
